How to: Fire-Making: Char-Cloth

Fire-Making: Char-Cloth

Char cloth becomes a slow-burning fuel of very low ignition temperature.
It can be ignited by a single spark that can in turn be used to ignite a tinder bundle to start a fire. Depending on its source material and completeness of char,
its auto ignition temperature is between 349 °C (660 °F) and 455 °C (851 °F).

Video

Just a quick clip on how to hold char cloth and strike a spark in order to ignite a make-shift tinder-bundle.
Char cloth or charpaper is created by a process that the natural fibers such as cotton, linen, or jutte, has been carbonized by means of pyrolysis. This makes the material into a slow-burning fuel of very low ignition temperature. How to Make Char Cloth is here >>

It can be ignited by a single spark that can in turn be used to ignite a tinder bundle to start a fire. Depending on its source material and completeness of char, its auto-ignition temperature is between 349 °C (660 °F) and 455 °C (851 °F).

It is sometimes manufactured at home for use as the initial tinder when cooking or camping and historically usually provided the "tinder" component of a tinderbox. It is often made by putting cloth into an almost airtight tin with a small hole in it, and cooking it in campfire coals until the smoking slows and the cloth is properly charred. It is the equivalent of wood being made into charcoal and uses the same techniques.
Char cloth ignites with even the smallest spark and hold a very hot ember, and is therefore commonly used with a flint and steel and fire piston.